Just a thought of late....
You know, sometimes life can get you down. There are people in our lives that try to hold us down, who don't allow room for growth. They put us in a box and keep us there, thinking that who we were 10, 20 years ago is who we are today. Some actually work to get us to BE the person we used to be. Is it because that is where they are more comfortable with us? Who knows.
Although it is important to remember that those people are on a path of their own, and they, too, are growing and changing, it is equally important to "weed out" (if you will) those that are in this position in our life, for a time, so that their toxicity and poison will stop affecting our own growth. There are times when clarity and purity are needed, rather than old junk.
Satan uses those relationships to keep us from growing. He clouds perspectives, and muddies things with even more junk, in order to cause despair and hopelessness. I have found personally that these occasions with relationships came up particularly around the time when God was preparing our hearts for some great work he was about to do in us, and in our ministry. It is something we have constantly had to be guarded about. The strange thing is that the more we have tried to "weed", the more toxic and nasty others have become. It's almost as if Satan grabs on with both hands, claws digging in, as he tries desperately to keep us in that place.
But then God throws in the thoughts and views of a child, or a friend, or a colleague, or those positive people in our lives, who see us as we are now, not where we have been, and it is enough. His grace is sufficient. And all of Satan's scratching and poisonous barbs are washed away and cleansed in the purity of the work that God is doing in us. Hopefully at some point, when His timing is right, and all hearts are ready, those that Satan is using may someday come to see us as we are now. But until then, the eyes of a child will suffice.
Although it is important to remember that those people are on a path of their own, and they, too, are growing and changing, it is equally important to "weed out" (if you will) those that are in this position in our life, for a time, so that their toxicity and poison will stop affecting our own growth. There are times when clarity and purity are needed, rather than old junk.
Satan uses those relationships to keep us from growing. He clouds perspectives, and muddies things with even more junk, in order to cause despair and hopelessness. I have found personally that these occasions with relationships came up particularly around the time when God was preparing our hearts for some great work he was about to do in us, and in our ministry. It is something we have constantly had to be guarded about. The strange thing is that the more we have tried to "weed", the more toxic and nasty others have become. It's almost as if Satan grabs on with both hands, claws digging in, as he tries desperately to keep us in that place.
But then God throws in the thoughts and views of a child, or a friend, or a colleague, or those positive people in our lives, who see us as we are now, not where we have been, and it is enough. His grace is sufficient. And all of Satan's scratching and poisonous barbs are washed away and cleansed in the purity of the work that God is doing in us. Hopefully at some point, when His timing is right, and all hearts are ready, those that Satan is using may someday come to see us as we are now. But until then, the eyes of a child will suffice.
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